Birthday Candles
by Hello-PandaDreams
Summary: Ciel is a victim of a stomach cancer called Adenocarcinoma, one who had simply given up trying. He never thought the tall dark and handsome senior Sebastian Michaelis would be the one to make him want to keep fighting. AU Ciel x Sebastian. Fluff. Plan is to make you cry by the end, just a warning...
1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

Very short chapter. They won't all be this short I promise. I just couldn't find a better place to end this one.

So, yes, reviews are so very appreciated...

I'd like to know if you think I should add some other Cannon characters, keep it just focused on Ciel and Sebastian...?

And, which cannon character the English teacher in an upcoming chapter.

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Pandora public high school was a notorious school. Full of successful students of all stereotypes and clicks.

The boys and girl who went there were generally happy, always having bright smiles on their faces and joking around.

During classes most laughed at the kind teachers jokes, were well caught up with the work, and got good grades to bring home to proud teachers.

In the school, however, a navy haired boy was none of these things. During morning, lunch, between classes, and after school he tried to remain as far away from anyone as possible always in the back of the classroom or on the back table of the library.

He did not have parents to bring home good report cards too…If he ever got any.

He was small, only 5ft1, so it was easy for him to slip under the table in the library. Past the fifth bookshelf, slide over the beanbag chair, and you were basically invisible to the librarian's line of sight.

"Ciel Alexander Phantomhive, is there a reason you're skipping 4th period on this fine fall day to sit cold and crammed under there? Is that book there really that interesting?"

But of course…even if the librarian couldn't see you, that didn't really mean the vice-principle couldn't…

"I find Ulysses by James Joyce to be far more interesting and only half as long as sitting in my history class, miss Grey."

Miss Grey was quite a beautiful lady, she was young, or at least looked so.

She had blonde hair down to her abdomen. It looked damaged at its ends, possibly from so much blonde hair dye.

Her eyes were a dark chocolaty brown. She was very petite, and most of students at the school easily surpassed her in height. It made for slight amusement when she was chewing some of the taller boys out, though at the same time it made her much easier to talk to.

"Well that's a bit of a stretch don't you think? …I haven't had very much to do today, so this is nearly entertaining. Now, why don't you come out from the table and why don't we take a little stroll."

A 'stroll' was Miss Grey's way of saying 'Let's go to the office so we can yell at you some and send you right back to class with a fresh new detention slip'. Honestly Ciel didn't know why detention was suppost to be a punishment. Durring lunch he got to sit in a quite room alone, rather then a loud courtyard alone.

"Do you know how many times you've skipped class now?"

"This week? Two. Counting this one."

"This school year thus far; eight times, Ciel. Four of which have been this month. And they keep getting more frequent."

Miss Grey and the boy walked through the campus. The ground was starting to get covered in maple leaves, even if the janitors had swept them up just that morning.

Their 'stroll' ended at the office door. It was painted in a sky blue color and the paint was peeling off at the corners to reveal plain white.

As they stepped into the ladys office she shut the wooden door the its glass windows.

"So what are we going to do with you, Phantomhive? We can't keep making exceptions to the rules just because of your…Well…"

She sighed and straightened her long blonde hair, her bright red lips twitching into a frown.

"We do care about you as a student, Ciel."

"And want my families money…" The boy interrupted under his breath, which only made the girl frown more.

"If that was the case we would let you continue to skip classes and keep sending you to detention as a result."

"Like you've been doing for the entire school year?"

Ciel remarked, causing the woman to shoot him another angry or annoyed look. However she continued.

"…But we do care, so that's why I've decided to schedule you for tutoring. If you are refusing to learn in school we'll have to make you learn what you need in life on your own time. "

'What you'll need to know in life…'

Bull. They knew just as well as he that he had no future. He had been doomed by fate already.

"But-"

"And don't worry. We've already called and scheduled appointments with your grandparents, so no need to bring home any papers to sign.

Now, why don't we get you back to class before it's over. You can consider that punishment enough."

And before Ciel knew what to say or do, he was pushed down the school hallway with a sealed envelope to bring home… that he most certainly wouldn't.

A tutor huh? Tutors made him think of ugly old hags with those stereotypical witches moles on their faces.

He always had intentions of locking himself in the best bathroom in his house with a bag of chips and his laptop, aswel as his Ipad in case his grandparents got smart enough to unplug the internet in an attempt to get him to come out.

He made his way to his locker, there was only about 10 minuets of class left anyways. No reason to go to it now.

The small boy sat to his knees and quickly put in the combo to his bottom locker. It seemed the school board was nice enough to relies he had trouble reaching in the back of those top lockers like he had as a freshmen.

He pushed his binders to the side of his locker and slid in his hard cover of 'Ulysses' before crinkling up the envelope and tossing it to the back, where most of his detention slips and homework had ended up.

Something made him curious about it's contense though…He reached his hand back and pulled the envelope back to his lap.

He stared at it a moment before ripping the top open and pulling out the folded slip of paper inside.

As he unfolded it and read the text it seemed to hold information about the tutor. It surprised him to find out to was another student from the school…

Sebastian Michaelis. A senior.

Now he was quite surprised. The tall black haired senior was someone who surely didn't look like he was one to get good grades.

He dressed quite punkish actually, normally in lots of leather. He hung out with that crowed that Ciel would normally see sitting in the office, the ones with the bright flaming red hair and piercing.

Maybe he would stay to see how who the girls in his classes nicknamed 'tall dark and handsome' acted first; before locking himself in the bathroom…


	2. Chapter 2 - Boy meets boy

Thanks for all the follows guys! It always gives me motivation to start working on it when I get an email saying someone likes it.

I really hope you find this chapter enjoyable...I tried putting more emotion into everything and more dialog instead of it being so blunt.

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A tall, jet black haired man stepped up the cement and rounded steps to the front door of a large manor. He pulled one hand from his black leather jacket and tapped on the thick wooden door with a bare knuckle.

His crimson eyes scanned the small paper in his hand the school board had given him.

'Hello, I'm the student tutor for a Ciel Phantomhive?'

He said over in his head in preparation for when the door was answered.

From inside the house the youngest resident stirred from his spot laying lifelessly on the largest couch in the den area. He sighed, blinking his bright blue eyes from their sudden soreness because of staring at a ipad screen too long.

The boy made a few taps, pausing his game of Angry Birds –Finding the game to be the saddest form of time waiting in the world, though also the most addicting form of time wasting - and setting the handheld device down onto the couch before standing to go get the door.

He walked past a series of life support equipment that sat at one wall of the room, half rolling his eyes at it. He was support to be wearing it, obviously, however what was the use? Sure, he could put it on and sit around like a vegetable all day, but what good would it do…Keep him alive to suffer a day longer? Like hell he wanted that.

She shook his head and walked up to the door, unlocking it and sushing his dog who was now loudly barking before finally opening the door.

Sebastian lowered his eyes to the child, a bit thrown off by this and clearing his throat once.

"Oh, hello, is there an adult home I can speak to?"

The tall man asked, leaning down a bit to meet eye-level with the other male. The child seemed to find this insulting; he could tell by the look on his pale rounded face.

He received no answer.

"Uh…Is there a Ciel Phantomhive here?"

He asked again, taken aback as the child rolled his eyes and he soon realized that he was not a child at all…

"I know I'm not the most social person, but jeez you should at least know what I look like if we go to the same school."

Ciel mumbled with a sigh, moving away from the door to allow the man inside and instructing him to remove his shoes with a series of jesters.

He made no attempt to stop his large white dog from sniffing the newcomer in all this leathered glory.

"You haven't hardly made it past the front door and you've already insulted me. I can see how much I'm going to enjoy this already."

Sebastian couldn't help but smirk at this comment, though quickly hid it, lips twitching back to normal. He let the dog sniff his shoes and hands, though made no other movements towards it seeing as, if asked, he wouldn't hesitate to kindly rant on his hatred for the canine species.

"My apologies. I'll try to be more sensitive from now on. …I'll try to start over."

"What an adorable dog…thing…you have here. What's its name?"

"Good. …As for the dog, you and it share a first name. His name is Sebastian, Alexander, Vincent, William, Phillip, Phantomhive."

The navy haired boy answered with no hesitation in his words from trying to remember all the names. Sebastian instantly raised an eyebrow at the smaller male.

"That's quite the liberate name for a dog don't you think?"

He asked, still oddly eyeing the boy. He was already quite sure that never in his years had he found something as strange and different as this boy was and would be.

Ciel only shrugged, stretching and making his way back into the den to return to his game.

"I was only five when I named him you know. I think that's a pretty impressive name for not being able to correctly pronounce any of those names."

Sebastian gave a soft nod and a 'ah' before watching the boy sink back into the couch and pull the ipad up to his face and continue his game.

He stiffened slightly, standing there awkwardly and clearing his throat once more.

"Just so you know and don't start bugging me about it…I have no intentions of learning from you, or anyone for that matter. Your being here is useless and you can go home to if you want. We'll still let you get your damned money for it."

"Oh? Is that so?"

Sebastian answered with a smothered chuckle. Stepping to the other end of the couch from the boy. He watched his with intent crimson eyes, studying his facial expressions as he played his game and listening to the sound it gave off as he fished a level.

Ciel nodded sometime in the middle of his game, eyes not moving from the screen.

"I finished high school online…But I couldn't get a diploma, and I didn't want to settle for a GED back then, because I figured it would be harder to work with."

The black haired man nodded in understanding, though he clearly understood very little of what was just said.

He had heard it all in his two years of tutoring, but this excuse seemed nearly legit.

"Then I'll tell you what…if you past the math test tomorrow, then I won't even attempt to teach you. That seems like a fair deal, yeah?"

"How do you know my year has a math test tomorrow? Been perving on sophomore girls?"

Sebastian raised an eyebrow again before sighing. He supposed that was a 'yes, that deal will be fine…'

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The next morning Ciel didn't bother coming in early. Math wasn't until third period anyways.

If it wasn't for the stupid tutoring crap he wouldn't have gone today, having been too shaken up frustrated by the yellowing of his skin.

But in the end suffering from heat via a oversized hoodie proved to be a fair trade for successfully hiding the signs of his illness.

When he arrived at the school he knew the routine. Straight to the office for a late pass.

This was something that was not new to him in any way. In fact he came in late nearly three times a week.

He stuffed the paper into his hoodies pocket as soon as the office aid handed it to him and turned to leave. He didn't get far past the door before Miss Grey spotted him in the hallway to his locker.

"Oh~ Phantomhive~"

She said in a sing-song voice, stopping a few feet in front of him and giving a bright smile. He could tell by the stupid gleam in her eye she was secretly plotting something.

"The tutor came by yesterday right? Mr. Michaelis is quite the charmer isn't he? I'm sure if you were a little older and he shared your sexual orientations you and him would make a-"

Ciels eyes widened and he brought a finger to his lips in the classic 'Sush' motion.

He had gotton in trouble back when he was in his first year for kissing his boyfriend at the time behind the school. He was just thankful it had been Miss Grey who had found out. As it appeared she supported homosexuality and let them off easy.

However he still had no intentions of announcing it to the world, and thankfully his blonde haired blue eyed lover had left for Australia before anyone found out about them.

She shut up pretty quickly and gave a soft chuckle.

"I don't want to talk about my gender preferences with my schools vice-principle right now. And might I remind you I wont be around long enough for a relationship."

This made the girl frown, eyes filling with the slightest hint of sadness.

"How long did they say since your last visit?"

Ciel shrugged, he normally drowned out the doctors words.

"He said about a month before my birthday so…Four months at best? Hell, I could drop dead today though."

"Why are you here then? Shouldn't you be at home or getting some surgery that could possibly save your life? That's how those things work right?"

The boy snorted with laughter at this, shifting his book bag and beginning down the hall to his locker again.

"If I'm going to go, my last days wont be taken up by sitting in hospital beds, nor while being sedated with my stomach being ripped open by a doctor who has no idea what he's doing."


	3. Chapter 3 - Unobservant

_You know...I always look at my rp replies and go 'wow, my grammar and overall writing is getting so much better, I should work on a fanfiction now.' ...And somehow...I can never wright fanfiction stories the same as I do replies, so they end up five times worse V-V_

_Anyhow, I'd like to take a moment to explain now that I had a comment concerning it - something I knew was coming anyways - that this fanfic is /not/ meant to be a completely accurate representation of any type of cancer. The time it takes, the overall severeness of symptoms and everything about it in general. I try to follow what I read on various websites about how someone with this type of cancer would act, but it doesn't give alot of help, and I've never had or met someone with any type of cancer, so I wouldn't know via that way either. So tread with that in mind, and I hope you can still enjoy : _

_Also, short chapter for such a long wait, I know. Alot of people wanted Sebastian to find out already, so here it is V-V might have to re-write it though because I hate it. Working hard on the net chapter which will be a bit more fluff based as a consolation for this one. _

_Thanks for reading everyone. Reviews and suggestion for new 'scenes' are welcome. ^-^_

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"Well then, Phantomhive?" A raven haired man by the name of Sebastian questioned as he finally became fed up enough about being ignored that he reached over to pull the handheld gaming system from the younger boys face. The boy seemed quite annoyed by this, to say the least.

"Well then what?" He retorted in a mocking tone, turning off the game none the less before bringing his knees to his chest, though obviously in a bit of pain from this action. Sebastian however sighing and not catching notice of this.

"I've asked you five times now what your score on the test was. You're stalling, aren't you?"

"Of course not. I passed just fine. If you want proof I put it on the table for you, I thought you'd have been observant enough to see it by now, but I guess I underestimated." Ciel muttered, giving a sigh of his own now and closing his eyes, nearly falling asleep just like that. However after taking about ten minuets to look over the tests score and observing the room more closely out of spite for the words said to him Sebastian spoke again, snapping Ciel out of his tired state.

"So, what's with all the oxygen tanks and equipment in the corner?" The blue haired boy frowned at this, too, obviously not pleased. This left Sebastian to re-think if what he just asked.

"It's for me, idiot. You really don't pay attention to anything at all, do you?" The boy sighed, sitting up slowly and running a hand through his hair. Suddenly feeling obliged to explain.

"I have a stomach cancer called Adenocarcinoma**. **It's not rare, or really that fatal in early stages. However, currently I'm far from being in the early stages of it, and I refuse to do anything about it." Now Sebastian, just as anyone else would be upon hearing someone basically state they were letting themselves die in such a way, was quite shocked. The red eyed man didn't know how to respond to this, as it seemed like utter madness and blasphemy.

"…Why would you want something like that?" He finally let the words spill out, concern filling his features.

"Why wouldn't I? I've already had enough out of life. I've been born into a rich family and become owner to a large company, have watched my immediate family all pass away, been in love once aswel as heartbroken all the same…That's all life is, isn't it? Love, family, money, fame…I've had it all, I don't want it anymore." The boy paused, giving a small smile before continuing, as the other male that sat before him on the couch seemed to gain understanding to what he was saying.

"So to answer your question, the equipment in the corner is suppose to help extend my life for a few more days, and I wont do it."

This shut Sebastian right up. He wanted to laugh, the view this boy had on life was…Well it was sad. Possibly the saddest he had ever heard. Sure there were people, fakes or not, who felt their life to be so horrible and pitiful that they would hurt themselves, make suicide attempts, dress in depressing clothing and embrace anything that had to do with death and pain. But this boy was just…Indifferent, accepting, and utterly tired of having everything.

There was nothing more to talk about on this subject it seemed. Sebastian watched the boy pull his game back up, that poker face having not changed at all through this talk.

"…Well, I'll still be coming over, to make sure you're passing the tests…I don't care how often you go to class, just pass the tests that come up so it looks good on me, and I won't bother you with any lessons at all."

"Sure. It's your time you're wasting, not mine." Ciel muttered back, eyes again glued to the screen.


	4. Chapter 4 - Stained black

_Got around to this one quicker in apologies for the short horribly written last chapter. _

_Anyhow...Remember how I said I do writing better when it's more like my rp style? Yep...Changed how this is written. It doesn't suck so much now, in my opinion anyways. So, basic the views will switch off every chapter based on who's getting the most feels. - I plan to go back and redo the last few chapters like that to match when I has the time._

_Anyone remember that one bathroom scene with the hair dye in 'Gone Home'? Yeah, that was half of what inspired the entire fanfic. So have some fluff based on that._

_As always, I wuv reviews, even a "Cute" would make me happy V-V _

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"You want me to…what?" I replied, staring with an odd, unamused look on my face at the box in the taller mans hands. It was a box of hair dye, the words 'Raven Black' displayed in thick bold lettering above a picture of a woman with what I supposed was the so claimed raven black hair color.

"Help me dye my roots. All you ever do when I'm here is either play some type of time consuming game or act like a smart ass. So now you can act like a smart ass, but make my coming here worth my while." He seemed far too pleased with what he had just called me, a smirk showing on his face and he set the box in my hands and stepped inside, shutting our large wooden door behind him.

"Well? Are you going to help me or not? I have a large stack of math worksheets from the office you can do I-" I shook my head quickly at this, letting my hand with the box still in it drop to my side as I turned and started up the stairs to one of the bathrooms we never used, thus no one would really notice if the dye stained something. I made my way up the stairs slowly, my free hand grabbing the gold raining as I did so. Hearing the sound my company's shoes made as they slowly stepped up behind me was irritating.

Once up the stairs I shuffled down to the end up the hall and opened the door there to reveal a dirty bathroom only ever used for the maids to fill water or poor chemicals into buckets. Really the word 'dirty' didn't suit it…more like stained. It was clean, but worn so that it would never be fit for companies use.

I pointed to the beach stained bathtub after flicking on the dim lights to see better before I lifted the box close to my face and turned it over in my hands to find directions. Not having any luck I opened it only to find a large strip of paper that gave the directions in English on one side and Spanish on the other.

I set the box down onto the sinks counter that showed signs of paint drip. Honestly, this room looked like a janitors closet…

In that moment I took the opportunity to glance at the person who was suppose to be my tutor. He had taken a seat on the tubs rim, watching me closely with his legs crossed effortlessly.

"Do you need some help?" His voice rang echoed in the room, making me jump slightly as I leaned down to search under the sink for some type of container as the directions called for. Obviously the cheap box of hair dye wouldn't bother to include something like that.

"You could do it yourself and avoid the risk of me screwing up on this…but otherwise, no. You can just sit there and let me do this for you like you wanted." I retorted in a level, if not mused, voice. He nodded; uncrossing his long legs and pushing himself back to sit inside the tub, his back leaning against the wall.

"…So if your hair color is fake, and your eye color is just contacts; is there anything about you that's real?" I questioned sarcastically, continuing following the instructions and pooring a bottle of conditioner into one of the small plastic containers, following with the black bottle of hair dye. It instantly stained my hands black the moment I got even the tiniest bit on me. Oh well, not like my skin wasn't already discolored, and clothes could be replaced.

I thought about warning him how easily it would stain his clothes if I dripped some of the gunk, but at the same time I had no intentions of persuading him to remove any article of clothing. So I let the subject lye.

Sebastian shifted as I walked closer, silently asking how I wanted to sit to do this. I sat on my knees over the rim, however the position both hurt my entire abdomen aswel as my back within seconds. The black haired man didn't look comfortable all folded up inside the tub either; those long legs suddenly weren't something I envied.

He smirked upon seeing my struggle with the position and adjusted himself again, laying in the bath long ways and taking hold of my wrist to tug me in with him, pushing down on my shoulders to force me into a sitting position on his lap before handing me the container full of the dye.

"You're really small, you know that right? Anyhow, this should work better for us both, yeah?" I couldn't stop my frown at this, both from being called small aswel as the position he had put me in. He was right though; this position was the best I could think of that would work. I didn't acknowledge the awkwardness and took the small shovel and comb applier they gave in the box to use and silently began applying the dye around the lighter brown areas of his hair.

Half way though I abandoned the applying device and switched to my own hands, it was much easier to work with that way. It was surprising how soft his hair was…I figured for being so punkish he'd be doing tons of drugs and things that could cause greasy hair. Not to mention all this dyeing had to dry it out quite a lot. But no, it was as soft as kitten fur. I rather liked running my hands through it, it felt nice. Maybe he liked it too…His eyes were shut. Though I guessed it was because he didn't want to get any of the chemicals in them.

After about and hour it was finished, and I was right; both of our clothes had become completely stained. Though the stains on my blue hoody showed up much better then on his mostly black clothing. He looked like a wet dog when he finally washed his hair out. He even shook it off like one.

I expected him to say something while I sat there on his lap watching him examine his hair in the mirror in front of us. About how it looked good, or bad, or okay for my first try, something. But he just sat there, silently. Finally after what seemed like an eternity he spoke.

"I like your hair best…"

That caught me off guard. I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. Just sat there. By the time I thought of something the moment was gone and he was pushing me off his lap, tossing the empty box and container into the trash.

"I'll leave you alone now, then. Thanks for your help, Ciel. …Oh, have you ever gone to an arcade?"

"An arcade? Of course I have…Once or twice on certain occasions." I answered, a bit confused at what he was getting at. I, too, stood up dusting my back jeans off from dirt that probably wasn't even there.

"Good. I'll be taking you next week with some friends."


End file.
